LG 55EA9800 Curved OLED: Stunning in the flesh, beautiful to behold

LG promised that the curved OLED TV would be coming, and here it is in the flesh. We caught up with the LG 55EA9800 at a Currys PC World showcase, so had the chance to set our eyes on this magnificent television.

On the spec sheet, the LG curved OLED might not seem that impressive. It's not a 4K TV, for example, so set back-to-back with the Sony KD-65X95005A, it can't deliver on detail, but when it comes to wow factor, the LG hits the ball out of the park.

For starters, this is a curved OLED display. OLED delivers not only impressive, nay, magnificent, viewing angles and colour accuracy, but is also very power efficient. Set your eyes on this LG display and you can't help but be wowed. In our time watching we were impressed with the depth of the colours: there are deep blacks, but thanks to an additional white sub-pixel, this LG set can produce nice clean whites too.

Yes, it's curved, but that isn't just a Minority Report pipedream: the idea behind curving this 55-inch display, according to LG, was to make sure that the distance from the centre of the display to the corner of the display, remained the same. If you're sitting in the sweetspot, the screen is onmidistant from your eyes.

However, because it's OLED, the viewing angles are fantastic. No matter where we sat, the display looked good, both from the demo videos being previewed and the Xbox One content being played through it. Flagship TVs looks great from wide angles now, so it's difficult to tell whether the curve of this OLED panel really adds to the viewing experience, but it certainly looks good.

While some TV manufacturers are pursuing the thin and light dream, curving the display brings some challenges. This isn't a TV begging to be mounted on the wall like the latest minimalist Samsung. No, this is a design statement from all sides.

The rear of the LG 55EA9800 is finished in carbon fibre. It jaw-droppingly stunning. You're faced with the sort of behind that's second only to the aluminium expanse of the 27-inch iMac, or the rear end of the McLaren P1. In short, it's the sort of backside you can drool over without your partner slapping you round the chops.

The result of that OLED panel is that you're delivered really deep blacks, with that white sub-pixel bringing whites to life. The curvature of the display brings an immersion to 2D viewing that's impressive. It's a hard not to love this TV.

It sounds good too. The bottom strip makes the curved display appear to float, but also accommodates speakers. From the brief time we spent listening to the LG curved OLED TV, we were impressed with the quality, boosted by the down-firing subwoofer that's built into the bottom the set, hidden by the curvature of the display.

Of course this is an LG smart TV, so offers all the convenience of the latest connected experience, combined with LG's smart remote, so you'll get that integrated experience, as well as being able to swipe your way through things using the remote.

Unfortunately, the LG curved OLED price is still unknown, but an LG spokesperson told us it would be available in the UK for Christmas. From the time we've spent with it, it's mightily impressive. We'll be bringing you a review of LG's curved OLED TV as soon as we can.